1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to a vehicle provided with an inclination sensor for detecting the state of inclination of the vehicle, particularly provided with an inclination sensor provided with a cover member for intercepting flying matter such as a splash of muddy water which may run into the inclination sensor.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, in a heavy vehicle such as a truck provided with a headlight of high brightness, a light axis adjusting device is provided. This device adjusts the light axis automatically in accordance with the tilt of the vehicle to a road surface, which is detected by an inclination sensor, in order to prevent the driver of an oncoming car from being dazzled by the strong light.
One such light axis adjusting device is disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2003-127757 (hereafter referred as patent literature 1). According to the art disclosed in patent literature 1, two pairs of an ultrasonic wave radiator and a detector are located along the longitudinal direction of the vehicle with a certain distance apart from each other, each pair consisting of an ultrasonic wave radiator for radiating an ultrasonic wave toward a road surface and a detector for detecting the ultrasonic wave reflected from the road surface to compose a radiator-detector couple. The radiator and detector are located along the direction of width of the vehicle with a certain distance from each other. The radiators and detectors are connected to a controller. The inclination of the vehicle to the road surface is calculated based on the time difference between the time needed from the radiating ultrasonic wave to the detection of the reflected ultrasonic wave by means of a pair of radiator and detector located in the front side and the time needed from the radiation of the ultrasonic wave to the detection of the reflected ultrasonic wave by means of another pair of radiator and detector located in the rear side. The controller allows the light axes of head lamps to be changed according to the inclination of the vehicle detected.
Further, according to the art disclosed in patent literature 1, said two pairs of ultrasonic wave sensors are mounted to a box-like case so that the radiating faces and detecting faces of the sensors are exposed toward the road surface, and the case mounted with the sensors is attached to the central part of the cross member of the vehicle frame. Because of this, the space in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle required for attaching the case is decreased, and a compact inclination sensor is achieved by accommodating the sensors in the case.